**4.4. Conrad Gessner**

12 New Approaches to the Study of Marine Mammals

the animal's name in different languages, their morphology (external and internal), feeding habits, and use as food for humans. Species were differentiated similarly to Aristotle as blooded and non-blooded. Although Aristotle inspired the entire book, including teleological considerations in his discussions, Rondelet added some original ideas, especially concerning anatomy and descriptions of the small cetaceans he dissected.

**Figure 2.** Illustrations of marine mammals by Rondelet (1554): (a) a dolphin showing a fetus surrounded

by a placenta indicating it was a viviparous animal; (b) a porpoise; (c) an unidentified species of mysticete, probably a right whale because may have been observed by Rondelet during a whaling operation in the Atlantic; (d) an unidentified species of mysticete that he never saw as evidenced by the depiction of barbels above the mouth; (e) orca (*Orcinus orca*); (f) a sperm whale (*Physeter macrocephalus*).

Rondelet made correlations between form, function, and environment.

Gessner11 probably developed an interest in zoology after seeing the carcasses of furred animals at his father's workshop where several furriers worked. He also lived with a greatuncle, an herbalist, who furthered his interest in natural history (Bay 1916, Gmelig-Nijboer 1977, p. 17, Wellisch 1984, p. 1). He was an avid traveler who studied theology and medicine in Bourges, Paris, Montpellier, and Basel (Fischer 1966) and had great facility for classical languages. During his travels Gessner met with Belon and Rondelet. He is considered as the "father of bibliography" because of his work on compiling information about books (Bay 1916). Gessner himself had a very large private library of more than 400 volumes (which was a very large private collection for his time) of which 19% of the volumes were on natural history and 13 of them were on zoology (Leu et al. 2008, pp. viii, 1, 13, 21). He published *Historiae Animalium* (1551-1558), an encyclopedic (4 volumes, 4,500 pages treatise) but uncritical compilation of information and bibliography in which he intended to itemize all of God's creations. In addition to classic authors such as Aristotle and Pliny, Gessner obtained information from whomever he could correspond. He classified cetaceans among 'aquatic animals,' i.e., including fishes. The fourth volume (*Piscium & Aquatilium*) of 1297 pages was published in 1558 and was about the aquatic animals. A fifth volume on reptiles and arthropods was not published until 1587, posthumously. *Historiae* was added to the list of prohibited books because Gessner was Protestant. Yet, the 14 editions in different languages of this book reveal its popularity.

Gessner followed Aristotle's classification of animals when it came to their grouping by volume (Vol. 1: viviparous quadrupeds; Vol. 2: oviparous quadrupeds; Vol. 3: birds; Vol. 4: aquatic animals; Vol. 5: serpents). He ordered them alphabetically, like a "Dictionarium," in each volume, which did not provide a rational classification based on relationships of any kind; on the other hand this alphabetical order facilitated its use as an encyclopedic source. Gessner's intention was to collect any piece of information ever written about each animal by any author in history, he cited nearly 250 authors including Rondelet (*Libri de Piscibus Marinis*, 1554), Belon (*De Aquatilibus*,1553), and Salviani (*Aquatilium Animalium*, 1554). The latter only mentioned marine mammals *in passim*.

<sup>11</sup> *b*. 16 March 1516, Zürich, Switzerland; *d*. 13 December 1565, Zürich.

When Whales Became Mammals:

The Scientific Journey of Cetaceans From Fish to Mammals in the History of Science 15

languages when those names were not available), physical features, geographic distribution, the animal's way of living including diseases and their cures, behavior, utility towards man (e.g., for food or medical purposes), and tales. His work was full of illustrations: some were very accurate showing that he had first-hand knowledge of the animal in questions while

Gessner included a 16-page-folio discussion about the dolphin very much along the lines of Aristotle and Pliny. As an uncritical compiler he included contradictory or totally false information such as mythical species and even "monsters." In volume 4 he relied heavily on Belon and Rondelet. For example, *Monachus marinus* (sea monk, IV, p. 519) description was copied from Rondelet who, in turn, had received the description from Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, who heard it from Emperor Charles V's ambassador, who had claimed to see the monster himself (Kusukawa 2010). He did not add much to what was already known. Among marine mammals he mentioned are the *Balaena* (mystecete whales, IV, p. 128) depicted more as sea monster than as an actual whale, *Cetis diversis* (IV, p. 207), an amalgam of marine monsters based on Olaus Magnus's descriptions of sea monsters from seas from northern Europe, *Hominis marinis* (IV, p. 438), a collection of humanoid sea monsters such as the sea-monk and the sea-bishop. To certain extent he was skeptical of accuracy of some of

Many of the figures were made by others and copied directly from other books including those of "cetaceous" animals as was the case of a whale which was copied from Olaus

The last author who published anything of significance about marine mammals during the Renaissance was Aldrovandi12. He was born to a noble and wealthy family, which allowed him to initially dedicate his life to his own pursuits. He was educated in Bologna, Padua, and Rome, receiving degrees in law and medicine although he never practiced those professions. He was appointed as the first professor of natural history in the University of Bologna. Although he was a pious Catholic, because of what he read he was charged with heresy. After producing himself in Rome, he was acquitted. While in Rome he met Rondelet and accompanied him to the fish markets where he became interested in ichthyology (which included the study of marine mammals) collecting specimens for his own museum. He traveled extensively throughout Italy and made a collection of about 11,000 animal specimens for pedagogical purposes; most of them can be found today at the Bologna Museum to which he bequeathed not only his specimens but also his library and unpublished manuscripts as well (Alves 2010, pp. 56-82). He also conducted dissections (Impey and McGregor 1985). He was a true encyclopedist following the tradition of the University of Bologna at that time (Tugnoli Pattaro 1994). He wrote extensively but the quality of his animal descriptions and illustrations were poor from the scientific viewpoint

other were bizarre or just invented, especially when dealing with mythical creatures.

these descriptions by other authors.

**4.5. Ulysses Aldrovandi** 

Magnus' map of the Northern Lands (IV, p. 176) (Fig. 3).

<sup>12</sup> *b*. 11 September 1522, Bologna, Italy; *d*. 4 May 1605, Bologna.

**Figure 3.** Some of the "Cetis" described by Gessner (1558): (a) and (b) two examples of marine monsters; (c) a whale attacking a ship and another being flensed during whaling operations. Both show mysteces with teeth, which indicates that Gessner never saw these animals. This exemplifies that Gessner was an uncritical compiler of information.

Information included names of the animals in various languages (some times more than a dozen) comprising epithets and etymology (even inventing common names in other languages when those names were not available), physical features, geographic distribution, the animal's way of living including diseases and their cures, behavior, utility towards man (e.g., for food or medical purposes), and tales. His work was full of illustrations: some were very accurate showing that he had first-hand knowledge of the animal in questions while other were bizarre or just invented, especially when dealing with mythical creatures.

Gessner included a 16-page-folio discussion about the dolphin very much along the lines of Aristotle and Pliny. As an uncritical compiler he included contradictory or totally false information such as mythical species and even "monsters." In volume 4 he relied heavily on Belon and Rondelet. For example, *Monachus marinus* (sea monk, IV, p. 519) description was copied from Rondelet who, in turn, had received the description from Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, who heard it from Emperor Charles V's ambassador, who had claimed to see the monster himself (Kusukawa 2010). He did not add much to what was already known. Among marine mammals he mentioned are the *Balaena* (mystecete whales, IV, p. 128) depicted more as sea monster than as an actual whale, *Cetis diversis* (IV, p. 207), an amalgam of marine monsters based on Olaus Magnus's descriptions of sea monsters from seas from northern Europe, *Hominis marinis* (IV, p. 438), a collection of humanoid sea monsters such as the sea-monk and the sea-bishop. To certain extent he was skeptical of accuracy of some of these descriptions by other authors.

Many of the figures were made by others and copied directly from other books including those of "cetaceous" animals as was the case of a whale which was copied from Olaus Magnus' map of the Northern Lands (IV, p. 176) (Fig. 3).
